Betsy byars autobiography of missouri

Born 1928, in Charlotte, NC; Education: Accompanied Furman University, 1946-48; Queens College, Charlotte, NC, B.A., 1950. Hobbies and other interests: Gliding, flying airplanes, reading, traveling, music, embroidery, crosswords.

Career

Children's book author.

Honors Awards

Book of the Year selection, Child Learn about Association of America, 1968, for The Midnight Fox, 1969, backing Trouble River, 1970, for The Summer of the Swans, 1972, for The House of Wings, 1973, for The Winged Revolver of Casa Mia and The Eighteenth Emergency, 1974, for After the Goat Man, 1975, for The Lace Snail, 1976, crave The TV Kid, and 1980, for The Night Swimmers; Author Carroll Shelf Award, 1970, for The Midnight Fox; Newbery Medallion, 1971, for The Summer of the Swans; Dorothy Canfield Fisherman Memorial Book Award, Vermont Congress of Parents and Teachers, 1975, for The Eighteenth Emergency; Woodward Park School Annual Book Furnish, 1977, Child Study Children Book Award, Child Study Children's Softcover Committee at Bank Street College of Education, 1977, Hans Christly Andersen Honor List for Promoting Concern for the Disadvantaged person in charge Handicapped, 1979, Georgia Children's Book Award, 1979, Charlie May Economist Book Award, Arkansas Elementary School Council, 1980, Surrey School Tome of the Year Award, Surrey School Librarians of Surrey, Brits Columbia, 1980, Mark Twain Award, Betsy Byars Missouri Association custom School Librarians, 1980, William Allen White Children's Book Award, Emporia State University, 1980, Young Reader Medal, California Reading Association, 1980, Nene Award runner up, 1981 and 1983, and Golden Toxophilite Award, Department of Library Science of the University of Wisconsin—Oshkosh, 1982, all for The Pinballs; Boston Globe—Horn Book fiction pleasure, 1980, Best Book of the Year, School Library Journal, 1980, and American Book Award for Children's Fiction (hardcover), 1981, lie for The Night Swimmers; International Board on Books for Verdant People Award, 1982, for The Two-Thousand-Pound Goldfish (in translation); Apprentice Choice, International Reading Association, 1982, Tennessee Children's Choice Book Bestow, Tennessee Library Association, 1983, Sequoyah Children's Book Award, 1984, pull back for The Cybil War; Parents' Choice Award for literature, Parents' Choice Foundation, 1982, CRAB-bery Award, Oxon Hill Branch of Lord George's County Library, MD, 1983, Mark Twain Award, 1985, label for The Animal, the Vegetable, and John D. Jones; Parents' Choice Award for literature, 1985, South Carolina Children's Book Confer, 1987, William Allen White Children's Book Award, Emporia State Further education college, 1988, and Maryland Children's Book Award, 1988, all for Cracker Jackson; Parents' Choice Award for literature, 1986, for The Not-Just-Anybody Family; Regina Medal, Catholic Library Association, 1987; Charlie May Apostle Award, 1987, for The Computer Nut; Edgar Allan Poe Bestow, Mystery Writers of America, 1992, for Wanted … Mud Blossom; Notable Book selection, American Library Association, 1969, for Trouble River, 1972, for The House of Wings, 1974, for After rendering Goat Man, 1977, for The Pinballs, 1981, for The Cybil War, 1982, and for The Two-Thousand-Pound Goldfish; The House bad buy Wings named to Library Journal Book List, 1972, and christian name a National Book Award finalist, 1973; The Winged Colt delineate Casa Mia and The Eighteenth Emergency selected outstanding books get ahead 1973, New York Times; After the Goat Man named grasp School Library Journal Book List, 1974; Horn Book selected The Pinballs, 1977, and Cracker Johnson, 1985, to its honor list; Good-bye Chicken Little named outstanding book of 1979, New Royalty Times; The Cybil War selected a Notable Children's Book hunk School Library Journal, 1981; The Animal, the Vegetable, and Privy D. Jones selected among the Best Children's Books of 1982 by School Library Journal; The Two-Thousand-Pound Goldfish selected a stiff book of 1982, New York Times.

Writings

FOR CHILDREN

Clementine, illustrated by River Wilton, Houghton (Boston, MA), 1962.

The Dancing Camel, illustrated by Harold Berson, Viking (New York, NY), 1965.

Rama, the Gypsy Cat, illustrated by Peggy Bacon, Viking (New York, NY), 1966.

(And illustrator) The Groober, Harper (New York, NY), 1967.

The Midnight Fox, illustrated unresponsive to Ann Grifalconi, Viking (New York, NY), 1968.

Trouble River, illustrated inured to Rocco Negri, Viking (New York, NY), 1969.

The Summer of depiction Swans, illustrated by Ted CoConis, Viking (New York, NY), 1970, reprinted, Puffin (New York, NY), 2004.

Go and Hush the Baby, illustrated by Emily A. McCully, Viking (New York, NY), 1971.

The House of Wings, illustrated by Daniel Schwartz, Viking (New Royalty, NY), 1972.

The Eighteenth Emergency, illustrated by Robert Grossman, Viking (New York, NY), 1973.

The Winged Colt of Casa Mia, illustrated give up Richard Cuffari, Viking, 1973.

After the Goat Man, illustrated by Ronald Himler, Viking (New York, NY), 1974.

(And illustrator) The Lace Snail, Viking (New York, NY), 1975.

The TV Kid, illustrated by Richard Cuffari, Viking (New York, NY), 1976.

The Pinballs, Harper (New Dynasty, NY), 1977.

The Cartoonist, illustrated by Richard Cuffari, Viking (New Royalty, NY), 1978.

Good-bye Chicken Little, Harper (New York, NY), 1979.

The Momentary Swimmers, illustrated by Troy Howell, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1980.

The Cybil War, illustrated by Gail Owens, Viking (New York, NY), 1981.

The Animal, the Vegetable, and John D. Jones, illustrated coarse Ruth Sanderson, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1982.

The Two-Thousand-Pound Goldfish, Instrumentalist (New York, NY), 1982.

The Glory Girl, Viking (New York, NY), 1983.

The Computer Nut, illustrated with computer graphics by son, Boy Byars, Viking (New York, NY), 1984.

Cracker Jackson, Viking (New Dynasty, NY), 1985.

(Author of afterword) Margaret Sidney, The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew, Dell (New York, NY), 1985.

The Not-Just-Anybody Family, illustrated by Jacqueline Rogers, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1986.

The Golly Sisters Go West, illustrated by Sue Truesdell, Harper (New York, NY), 1986.

The Blossoms Meet the Vulture Lady, illustrated be oblivious to Jacqueline Rogers, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1986.

The Blossoms and rendering Green Phantom, illustrated by Jacqueline Rogers, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1987.

(Author of preface) Margaret M. Kimmel, For Reading out Loud, Dell (New York, NY), 1987.

A Blossom Promise, illustrated by Jacqueline Rogers, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1987.

Beans on the Roof, illustrated by Melodye Rosales, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1988.

The Burning Questions of Bingo Brown, illustrated by Cathy Bobak, Viking (New Royalty, NY), 1988.

Bingo Brown and the Language of Love, illustrated shy Cathy Bobak, Viking (New York, NY), 1989.

Hooray for the Golly Sisters, illustrated by Sue Truesdell, Harper, 1990.

Bingo Brown, Gypsy Lover, Viking (New York, NY), 1990.

Seven Treasure Hunts, Harper (New Royalty, NY), 1991.

Wanted … Mud Blossom, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1991.

The Moon and I (autobiography), J. Messner (New York, NY), 1991.

Bingo Brown's Guide to Romance, Viking (New York, NY), 1992.

Coast collect Coast, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1992.

McMummy, Viking (New York, NY), 1993.

The Golly Sisters Ride Again, illustrated by Sue Truesdell, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1994.

The Dark Stairs: A Herculeah Jones Mystery, Viking (New York, NY), 1994.

Tarot Says Beware, Viking (New Royalty, NY), 1995.

(Compiler) Growing up Stories, illustrated by Robert Geary, Kingfisher (New York, NY), 1995, published as Top Teen Stories, Kingfisher (Boston, MA), 2004.

My Brother, Ant, illustrated by Marc Simont, Norse (New York, NY), 1996.

Tornado, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1996.

The Happiness Boys, illustrated by Frank Remkiewicz, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1996.

A Bean Birthday, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1996.

Dead Letter: A Herculeah Jones Mystery, Viking (New York, NY), 1996.

Ant Plays Bear, illustrated by Marc Simont, Viking (New York, NY), 1997.

Death's Door, Scandinavian (New York, NY), 1997.

Disappearing Acts, Viking (New York, NY), 1998.

Me Tarzan, illustrated by Bill Cigliano, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2000.

(With daughters Betsy Duffey and Laurie Myers) My Dog, My Hero, Holt (New York, NY), 2000.

Little Horse, illustrated by David McPhail, Holt (New York, NY), 2002.

Keeper of the Doves, Viking (New York, NY), 2002.

(With daughters Betsy Duffey and Laurie Myers) The SOS File, illustrated by Arthur Howard, Henry Holt (New Dynasty, NY), 2004.

Little Horse on His Own, illustrated by David McPhail, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 2004.

Contributor of articles to periodicals, including Saturday Evening Post, TV Guide, and Look. Writings be part of the cause in anthologies Scary Stories to Read When It's Dark, SeaStar Books, 2000.

Author's works have been translated into several languages.

Author's manuscripts are housed at Clemson University, South Carolina.

Adaptations

The following were modified as episodes of the ABC Afterschool Special, for ABC-TV: "Pssst! Hammerman's After You," adapted from The Eighteenth Emergency, 1973; "Sara's Summer of the Swans," adapted from The Summer of say publicly Swans, 1974; "Trouble River," 1975; "The Winged Colt," adapted break The Winged Colt of Casa Mia, 1976; "The Pinballs," 1977; and "Daddy, I'm Their Mamma Now," adapted from The Hours of darkness Swimmers, 1981. The Lace Snail was adapted as a film-strip with cassette by Viking; The Midnight Fox, The Summer arrive at the Swans, and Go and Hush the Baby were canned on cassette by Miller-Brody; Sara's Summer of the Swans was adapted for videocassette, Martin Tahse Productions, 1976; The TV Kid was recorded on cassette, 1977.

Sidelights

Betsy Byars is one of say publicly most popular and prolific authors of contemporary realistic fiction fulfill middle-school readers. Called "one of the best writers for descendants in the world" by critic Nancy Chambers in Signal, Byars had been consistently lauded for creating adventurous works that commingle humor and sympathy to address the universal emotions of boyhood. Concentrating on themes of maturation and relationships with family, peers, and animals, she frequently portrays the growth of respect jaunt understanding between child and adult characters. A distinctive mixture wait unsentimental pathos, humor, and fundamental optimism coupled with an hobby to life's oddities allows her to examine successfully subjects for the most part considered too disturbing for young readers.

Byars came relatively late currency her writing career. "In all of my school years … not one single teacher ever said to me, 'Perhaps boss around should consider becoming a writer,'" she told interviewer Elizabeth Segel in Children's Literature in Education. "Anyway, I didn't want say yes be a writer. Writing seemed boring. You sat in a room all day by yourself and typed. If I was going to be a writer at all, I was reception to be a foreign correspondent like Claudette Colbert in Arise My Love. I would wear smashing hats, wisecrack with depiction guys, and have a byline known round the world."

The inventor married Edward Byars after graduating from college, in 1950. They had been married for five years and had two daughters when Ed decided that he needed a Ph.D. degree bring out continue in his career. The family packed up its ram and moved to Illinois for the next two years. Byars soon discovered that the other wives living in her neighbourhood either worked or were in school. "The highlight of wooly day was the arrival of the grocery truck after lunch," she later wrote in Something about the Author Autobiography Series. So she got herself a second-hand typewriter—"so old I difficult to understand to press the keys down an inch to make a letter"—and began to write. "I thought it couldn't be reorganization hard as people say it is. I thought probably representation reason professional writers claim it's so hard is because they don't want any more competition."

Although she wrote "constantly" for rendering next two years, successful writing proved more difficult than she had anticipated. "My first sale was a short article compute the Saturday Evening Post and I got seventy-five dollars care it. I was elated. I had known all along in attendance was nothing to writing. Seven months passed before I advertise a second article.

"I was learning what most other writers suppress learned before me—that writing is a profession in which presentday is an apprenticeship period, oftentimes a very long one. Drag that, writing is like baseball or piano playing. You take got to practice if you want to be successful."

Byars's steady books, including Clementine, The Dancing Camel, Rama, the Gypsy Cat, and The Groober, received a somewhat cool reception from critics. Of her next publication Byars remarked in Something about description Author Autobiography Series: "The first book that turned out picture way I had envisioned it was The Midnight Fox. … I look on The Midnight Fox as another turning standardize of my career. It gave me a confidence I locked away not had before. I knew now that I was euphoria to be able to do some of the things I wanted to do, some of the things I had clump had the courage and skill to try. For this coherent, and others, it remains my favorite of my books."

With The Midnight Fox and Trouble River (which was written before The Midnight Fox though published after it) Byars began utilizing gratify and realistic details in her stories. Trouble River tells picture story of Dewey Martin, a twelve-year-old boy who is maintain equilibrium alone with his grandmother on the frontier during his mother's lying-in. Dewey and his dog successfully drive off a antagonistic Indian, but realizing he will return, the boy takes his grandmother on his raft down Trouble River to safety. Margaret F. O'Connell of New York Times Book Review remarked: "Byars has a talent for plot and dialogue that makes supreme low-keyed story a skillful portrayal of the growing respect mid a young boy and an old woman." In The Midnight Fox, Tom is left to spend the summer at his Aunt Millie and Uncle Fred's farm while his parents engage in a bicycle tour of Europe. Tom is bored and one until he begins searching the woods and fields around representation farm for the beautiful black fox he saw one age. When the fox steals one of Aunt Millie's turkeys, even, Uncle Fred decides to hunt it down, and Tom be obliged defy his uncle in order to rescue the animal soil feels so close to.

The Summer of the Swans grew devote of Byars's experiences telling stories to a Brownie troop mean mentally challenged children, augmented by some additional research. In that work, Sara, an unhappy adolescent, takes her mentally challenged last brother to see six swans that have alighted on a lake near their home. Charlie is mesmerized by the likely and goes in search of them on his own clue that night, quickly becoming lost. Sara's agonized search for quota brother changes her perspective on many of the things renounce had been making her unhappy. In Children's Literature in Education, I. V. Hansen described Byars's protagonist as "a character ample in teenage humour and genuine compassion."

Byars was awarded the Newbery Medal in 1971 for The Summer of the Swans, entail experience, she wrote in Something about the Author Autobiography Series, that "literally changed my life overnight. Up until this time and again I had had a few letters from kids. Now incredulity had to get a bigger mailbox. I got tapes, questionnaires, invitations to speak, invitations to visit schools, requests for interviews. For the first time in my life, I started sixth sense like an author."

Byars's next effort, the simple picture book Go and Hush the Baby, describes an inventive older brother's attempts to quiet his younger sibling. The Lace Snail, another finding book, grew out of the author's experiments with etching allow was praised for its humorous dialogue.

With The House of Wings Byars returned to realistic fiction for young adults. In that book, Sammy is left with his grandfather, a virtual newcomer, in a rundown cabin in Ohio, while his parents journeys on to Detroit to try to find work there. Sammy's anger at being abandoned sends him running off into description woods followed closely by his grandfather, but the chase not bad brought to an abrupt end when the two discover block up injured whooping crane. A relationship develops as they work involved to nurse the bird back to health. In The 18th Emergency, "Mouse" Fawley must face one of the many emergencies for which he and his friend Ezzie have prepared—the annoyance of the school bully, Marv Hammerman. Mouse successfully avoids Marv until, influenced by studying medieval chivalry in his English slaughter, he decides to do the honorable thing and face representation consequences of insulting the other boy. Hansen called The 18th Emergency "a wry, sometimes uproariously humorous story, and yet interpretation medieval vision Mouse has slips easily into its fabric."

After picture Goat Man is the story of an elderly man who returns to the cabin home he was forced to churn out up when the state decided to build a highway grant the land, was more warmly received. Three children, the cold Ada, Harold, who is overweight and rueful, and Figgy, representation old man's grandson, whose fears are overwhelming without his black art rabbit foot, come to the old man's rescue and discover something about themselves in the process. Alice Bach wrote show the New York Times BookReview: "Never losing control of gather material (and God knows a fat kid, an uprooted hold close man and a puny boy scared silly could be crucial candidates for a pile of damp Kleenex in the anodyne of a lesser writer), Byars remains a dispassionate craftsman, weaving a sturdy homespun tale with the simple words of personality people."

In The TV Kid Byars's story centers on a lad who deals with the loneliness of the drifter lifestyle good taste and his mother have lived by watching a lot pressure television. He rejects the unreality of his fantasy life care it leads him to break into someone else's home put forward be bitten by a snake. While some reviewers criticized what they found to be a facile morality tale preaching destroy the evils of television, Elizabeth Segel commented in the Dictionary of Literary Biography: "The superior credibility of the contemporary descendants in [Byars's] books owes a great deal to her call to mind of television and other manifestations of popular culture in characterization."

The Pinballs is one of Byars's most highly acclaimed works. Picture pinballs of the title are three children who have anachronistic abandoned or abused and have come to live one summertime with the same foster parents. Together they help each blot come to feel that they are not merely pinballs but have some control over their lives. As Ethel L. Heins remarked in Horn Book, "The stark facts about three ill-matched, abused children living in a foster home could have idea an almost unbearably bitter novel; but the economically told tale, liberally spiced with humor, is something of a tour gap force." Writing in School Library Journal, Helene H. Levene alarmed The Pinballs "engrossing."

In The Cartoonist, like The TV Kid, a boy seeks to escape his problems with his family. Alfie escapes to the attic to draw cartoons and locks himself in when it looks like he will have to commit up his sanctuary. Of Alfie's story, Paula Fox wrote detect the Washington Post Book World: Byars "tells it splendidly, add clarity, verve and grace."

With Good-bye Chicken Little Byars returns in depth a serious subject matter and focuses on individuality, a instant that runs through several of her more recent works. When Jimmie "Chicken" Little's Uncle Pete takes a dare to dance across a frozen river and falls through and drowns, Jimmie worries that he did not try hard enough to liberate him. When Jimmie's mother plans a festive Christmas party a few days later, Jimmie is offended until he realizes rendering she knows better than he how to honor her one and only brother. Byars focuses on parental irresponsibility in The Night Swimmers, a story about three children who are left alone ever and anon evening while their father pursues his career singing country meeting. They often swim secretly in a nearby private swimming alternate, until the youngest child is nearly drowned and the offspring child is finally relieved of responsibility for their welfare. Elaine Moss concluded in the Times Literary Supplement that, "In The Night Swimmers [Byars] has written a short novel that arranges the reader hold his breath, cry and laugh; not fancy one moment are the emotions disengaged."

Byars turned to a extend lighthearted subject in The Cybil War, which humorously depicts depiction troubled friendship between fourth-grader Simon and his disloyal friend Tony, both of whom are in love with a little miss named Cybil. Some critics found these characters disappointingly ordinary name those in Byars's previous works, but Zena Sutherland wrote handset the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books that description text "seems deceptively simple, but has a polished fluency post spontaneity." Similarly, The Animal, the Vegetable, and John D. Jones is a humorous and realistic tale of a summer "family" vacation taken by two girls and their divorced father who unexpectedly invites a widowed woman and her son to affix them. Critic Sutherland commented: "This doesn't have as strong a story line as some of Byars' stories, but it has the same perceptive exposition of the intricacy of ambivalent relationships."

In The Two-Thousand-Pound Goldfish a boy creates imaginary horror films decimate distract himself from the insecurity and lack of love unsubtle his own life. Marilyn Kaye of the New York Era Book Review remarked: "Byars' straightforward narration lets pure gut be rude to come through." Byars depicts another outcast in The Glory Girl, which centers on Anna, the only nonmusical member of a family of gospel singers. In the story, Anna is befriended by her Uncle Newt, an ex-convict. In The Computer Nut, Byars joined forces with her son, Guy Byars, who provides the computer graphics that illustrate this story of a mademoiselle who gets a message from a space alien via time out home computer.

With Cracker Jackson Byars takes on the serious long way round of spousal abuse with what critics noted is a distinctive blend of realism and humor. The title character, eleven-year-old Singer, is called Cracker only by Alma, his former babysitter, who now has a husband and small child. When the youth begins to suspect that Alma's husband, Billy Ray, is combat her, he enlists his friend Goat in a desperate liberate attempt that Lillian Gerhardt characterized in School Library Journal bring in leading to "some of the most harrowing but hilarious moments in the book." Audrey Laski, writing in the Times Instructional Supplement, remarked of Byars: "no-body writing in America for that age range is as good." Byars reintroduces Jackson and Dupe in The Seven Treasure Hunts, a humorous tale that critics called lighthearted for its episodic plot and adventurous action.

With The Not-Just-Anybody Family and its sequels Byars again addresses the consequence of individuality. In The Not-Just-Anybody Family the reader is introduced to the poor and eccentric members of the Blossom race, who always seem to be getting into trouble. Katherine Duncan-Jones, writing in the Times Literary Supplement, dubbed it "a hardwearing, entertaining American urban romance, in the best tradition of stories about children carrying more than adult responsibilities and almost magically winning the day." Like several other reviewers, Susan Kenney commented in the New York Times Book Review that some build up the events depicted in this work would be frightening in depth younger readers. "Tragicomedy would be a truer description of what goes on here," Kenney wrote, but concluded: "Funnyha-ha maybe not; well worth reading, certainly yes."

In the second volume of rendering "Blossom Family" series, The Blossoms Meet the Vulture Lady, Lower gets caught in his own coyote trap and is rescue by the dreaded Mad Mary, a woman who lives see the point of a cave and eats road kill. "This is a animated, likable family, handled lightly but surely by an author noted for her ability to write believable dialogue and present say publicly desires of her characters with humor and understanding," wrote Sara Miller for School Library Journal. In The Blossoms and description Green Phantom, Junior Blossom is depressed by his failure be acquainted with interest anyone in the flying saucer he has made. His mother takes time out from searching for her father, Diet, who has disappeared, to rally the family around the young man. In a review in School Library Journal, Dudley B. Carlson wrote: "This is a story about love in its numerous forms. Like Byars' best, it is rock-solid and full indicate chuckles, and it lingers in the mind."

In the fourth picture perfect about the Blossoms, A Blossom Promise, the family is beat by disaster on several fronts, culminating in a mild immediately attack suffered by Pap. Billed as the last in picture series, the book elicited much praise from critics, who commented that children would miss the Blossom family. Kristiana Gregory wrote in the Los Angeles Times Book Review that "This appreciation the final, bittersweet volume in the Blossom Family Quartet, waxwork only because the cast is so memorably quirky that complete hate to say goodbye."

To appease "Blossom Family" fans, Byars obtainable Wanted … Mud Blossoms as a fifth in the sequence. The story takes place one weekend when the family psychoanalysis plagued by the disappearance of Mad Mary, now a next of kin friend, and the hamster entrusted to Junior by his smash. In the latter case, the family dog, Mud, is suspected, and many critics praised the children's mock trial of Silt Blossom.

In The Golly Sisters Go West and Hooray for depiction Golly Sisters Byars introduces two women whose ignorance and joy lead them into and out of all sorts of adventures as they sing and dance their way westward across Northbound America. Set up as collections of stories for young readers, the books garnered praise for their humor and accessibility. A reviewer for the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books remarked that Byars makes a virtue of the simple noesis of books for beginning readers, "spoofing the choppy style speed up dialogue in which the childlike sisters echo each other." As well for young readers is Beans on the Roof, which introduces each character through the poem he or she composes from the past sitting on the roof of the house. Diane Roback commented in Publishers Weekly commented: "In the simplest language and a natural, unadorned style, Byars has created an easy-to-read chapter seamless that is humorous and realistic."

Byars has written a series look upon books centering on the lovesick adventures of Bingo Brown. Compel the first installment, The Burning Questions of Bingo Brown, Keno learns that even though his love for Melissa is returned, not everyone is so lucky, as his teacher, the desperate Mr. Markham, proves. A reviewer for the Bulletin of say publicly Center for Children's Books concluded: "This is a story give it some thought children are going to get a lot out of highest love, while adults appreciate both craft and content." In Bingo Brown and the Language of Love Melissa has moved jettison, inspiring many expensive long-distance phone calls between the two. Byars's universally loved protagonist must also contend with the odd demureness of his parents and the attentions of a physically well-developed classmate. Fannie Flagg reviewed Bingo Brown and the Language hint at Love for the New York Times Book Review, writing: "If there is such a thing as a typical American cosset, Bingo Brown is it. He is funny and bright trip lovable without being precocious, and Betsy Byars has demonstrated a special creative genius in pulling off this delicate balancing act."

The adventures of Bingo continue in Bingo Brown, Gypsy Lover, harvest which Melissa tells Bingo that he resembles the hero conduct yourself the romantic novel she is reading. As Christine Behrmann wrote in School Library Journal: "Bingo continues to grow … grind each book, and here he progresses from slightly cocky self-preoccupation to vulnerable concern for others." This volume was followed vulgar Bingo Brown's Guide to Romance, in which Bingo records his misadventures with Melissa, who is back in town, in rendering hope that his baby brother will be spared some insinuate his troubles when the time comes for him to lose your footing in love. A reviewer for the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books concluded: "More episodic than cohesive, this evaluation nevertheless keen-eyed and better-written than most series titles."

Byars is besides the author of Coast to Coast, in which Birch convinces her grieving grandfather to take one last trip in his antique airplane before he sells it, the girl's hope yield that the flight will raise his spirits in the consequence of his wife's death. "The details about flying will attachment readers in, as will the loving story of friendship look the other way the generations," wrote Judy Fink in Voice of Youth Advocates. A reviewer for the Bulletin of the Center for Lowranking Books concluded: "It's an episodic trip, but one worth taking."

My Brother, Ant and Ant Plays Bear are books for anciently readers about a boy and his little brother Anthony, household as Ant. Although Ant does his best to annoy his big brother—scribbling on homework, making the older sibling chase "monsters' out of their room—the narrator never loses his patience. Interpretation four stories about the pair contained in My Brother, Ant "are full of homespun warmth and easy-going humor," commented a Publishers Weekly contributor. "A great story teller and a waiting in the wings illustrator [Marc Simont] are at their very best in that tender, funny, easy-to-read chapter book," Booklist reviewer Hazel Rochman alleged about the same title.

Byars teamed up with her daughters, Betsy Duffey and Laurie Myers, to write My Dog, My Hero and The SOS Files, collections of short stories. In My Dog, My Hero the stories are designed as entries twist the "My Hero" essay contest, where contestants are asked lengthen write about why their dog is their hero. "Drama, nourishment, excitement, and love fuel these short, well-written stories," Ellen Mandel noted in Booklist. In The SOS Files the stories more meant to be essays written for extra credit by course group in Mr. Magro's class. Each story is about a crux when the student needed help, from needing medical help associate crashing a go-cart to needing a rescuer after being forsaken in a dumpster as a baby. "Some tales are woeful, others are humorous," Maria B. Salvadore commented in School Collection Journal, but as a whole "this collection will be a hit with its target audience and is perfect for exhortative reluctant readers," concluded a Kirkus Reviews contributor.

Little Horse and Little Horse on His Own, also for beginning readers, are fantasies about a tiny horse no bigger than a kitten. Take away the first title, the pint-sized horse is terrified when proceed loses his mother and has to fend for himself extort a strange world that is full of hazards, including streams, birds, and a dog. Luckily for Little Horse, a lad comes along to take care of him. "Young horse lovers will delight in the idea of a real horse they could hold in their hands and will enjoy the tiny creature's adventures," Louise L. Sherman wrote in School Library Journal, speaking about the former title. In Little Horse on His Own, the tiny creature sets out to find his kinfolk, even though the world is still a very dangerous objet d'art for someone so small. The book's "brief, action-packed chapters inclination please horse fanciers ready to advance beyond traditional easy readers," Jennifer Mattson wrote in Booklist.

The middle-grade novel Keeper of description Doves, set during the 1890s, is told from the fasten of view of the youngest child in a family weekend away five daughters. The girl, Amen McBee ("Amie' for short), practical a born poet who writes her first work at representation age of six. In addition to her four older sisters—Abigal, Augusta, and twins Annabella and Arabella—and her parents, the McBee household also includes Mr. Tominski, a reclusive man whom their father allows to live in the chapel on the family's estate; and Aunt Pauline and Grandmama, who help care add to the girls while their fragile mother copes with her uptotheminute pregnancy. Byars's story of the joys and tragedies that uniformly to this family over several years was widely praised timorous critics. Byars writes "in a prose that ripples with delight and sweetness and an underlying evolution of spirit," declared a Kirkus Reviews contributor, and a Publishers Weekly critic concluded ditch "the snippets of Amie's and her family's lives add get on your way to an exquisitely complete picture."

Byars is also the author unravel the highly acclaimed autobiography The Moon and I. Critic Roback called the writer's memoir "an appealingly idiosyncratic narrative that seamlessly weaves together the Newbery winner's life and art." Phyllis Writer, writing in School Library Journal, described it as "very rare nonfiction that truly entertains as it informs."

Byars is often commended as a thoughtful and original writer who creates fresh, unusual characterizations, skillful portrayals of human interaction, vibrant images, and misleadingly simple prose. While occasional critics find her conclusions contrived, Byars is well regarded as a compassionate explorer of the common and moral issues confronting her audience. Jennifer FitzGerald described Byars in School Library Journal as "preeminent among authors" with depiction ability to "combine unstinted awareness with a remarkable rollicking meaningless of humor, dispelling despair and self-pity without ignoring pain."

"I drippy to think, when I first started writing, that writers were like wells," Byars wrote in an essay for the Something about the Author Autobiography Series, "and sooner or later we'd use up what had happened to us and our family tree and our friends and our dogs and cats, and near wouldn't be anything left. We'd go dry and have ruse quit. I imagine we would if it weren't for defer elusive quality—creativity. I can't define it, but I have override from experience that the more you use it, the greater it works."